Baptism of the Lord
Notes
Transcript
As you heard in the Gospel reading out of Mark this morning, this is the Sunday in the Christian Calendar when we hear and reflect on the Baptism of Jesus. We hear the words spoken over him by His Father “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” We picture in our minds the heavens opening up, a ray of light shining down and the Spirit of God descending like a dove upon Jesus as he rises out of the water.
As you hear and reflect on this Baptism, understand and believe that all who follow, all who in faith believe in Jesus and who are baptized in His name, this Word and Action that we just heard and visualized applies to each one of us as well. God speaks His Word over you, “You are my child, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” This is before you have done anything outside of turning to Jesus in faith! These words of affirmation have nothing to do with your performance or cleaning your act up or trying to prove yourself – no certifications needed, no test to pass, no proving yourself worthy of such a blessing. God says “You are my child, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Isn’t that the role of every father? To let their child know that they love them and their love is not predicated on anything the child must first do? These words of affirmation spoken by God mark the starting point of your walk with the Lord. And not only do we start there, immediately the Spirit of God descends and fills us with His presence. Like a dove, the universal symbol of peace, the Spirit of God takes up residence in our being and we receive the peace that comes from our reconciliation with our Creator. In Mark’s typical fashion, he cuts right to the chase and in a few short sentences at the beginning of his gospel, we are invited into the family of God.
Jesus’ baptism was special. For one, he lived his life perfectly, never forsaking God or his commands, never harboring sin in his heart, Adam’s curse did not fall on him for he was conceived not by the union of sinful man and woman, but by the miraculous conception brought about by the Spirit of God upon the obedient and humble virgin Mary. As the Apostle Paul would later state in 2 Corinthians 5:21
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Since Jesus was sinless, there was no reason for him to be baptized by John in the Jordan for the repentance of sin. In Matthew’s gospel, the apparent contradiction is noted in John’s response, Matt 3:14
John tried to stop him and said, “I need to be baptized by you, yet you come to me?”
That must mean that Jesus’ baptism was of another nature or another purpose then the baptism John had been performing.
John’s ministry was to prepare the people for their Savior. John made that known to those who came to him.
He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
And how does one make straight the way of the Lord? It starts with repentance. Acknowledging our sin through confession, that we are a people who have gone astray, and by repenting - turning away from our sin and turning toward God. Just as one washes dirt off their body with water, John employs the act of baptism to demonstrate the washing of sin off the soul of the repentant child of God.
What happens when Jesus is baptized?
In Mark’s text, we see a vision and we hear a voice. First, the vision: Mark 1:10
And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
Jesus saw the heavens torn open - which implies that God the Father is the one doing the tearing. We hear this same verb used later in Mark when Jesus dies and Mark 15:38
And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
In both cases, that which has been closed off - that barrier between heaven and earth - has been opened. The prophet Isaiah once cried out to God, Isaiah 64:1
Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence—
Mark informs us that through Jesus, God has torn the heavens and has come down.
Also in the vision, “…the Spirit descended on him like a dove.” The Spirit of God coming down upon Jesus reveals that He is the One, the one greater than John the Baptist, the One the world has long waited for.
John had said:
I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Since Jesus has been empowered by the Holy Spirit, his followers will be baptized by the Spirit as well.
And then there is the voice - as I mentioned earlier - “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
Again, in Mark’s typical fashion, he cuts right to the chase: Jesus is the One. He is the Christ, the Savior of the World.
And for all who follow in His footsteps, all who would hear his name and, in faith, believe that He is the Son of God, they would be called children of God and inherit eternal life. Following Jesus, we enter into the baptismal waters and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
I think of the all the baptisms I’ve performed over the years, and you may recall all the baptisms you have witnessed, some of you may remember your own baptism - and it is an amazing thing to contemplate - that generation after generation - God is consistently calling people into right relationship with him. In every generation - there are folks who hear the gospel and heed the call on their hearts to respond. To believe, in faith, that Jesus is Lord, acknowledge their sin and repent, to be washed in the baptismal water and be made new. That even today, spirit-filled Christians around the world are interceding in prayer and serving faithfully our Lord in millions of different ways.
So what are we to make of the other passage out of Acts we heard this morning? Paul found disciples who did not receive the Holy Spirit and needed to be baptized again? Are there two different baptisms that we as Christians must undergo?
Let’s look a bit closer to what is going on in this account. It is tied to the passage that preceded it.
Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.
Here we have a man named Apollos who it seems had been baptized by John or by one of John’s disciples (John had disciples too - Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one before he became of disciple of Jesus) and he apparently was well-versed in all that Jesus taught in his public ministry.
But his knowledge was incomplete. He did not know the resurrected Jesus and that Jesus was indeed God’s Son who had taken away the sins of the world. Once he heard the full gospel from Priscilla and Aquila, he went on to powerfully evangelize for Jesus.
While this was going on in Corinth, we are told that Paul had a similar experience in Ephesus - encountering some disciples who did not know the full gospel. They were disciples (the word means students) of someone else. Most likely John the Baptist - but they were not yet disciples of Jesus. Paul discerned this by asking two questions:
1. Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?
and
2. Into what then where you baptized?
When it became clear that they only knew part of the story - Paul told them the rest. That the one John pointed to was Jesus. That it is through faith in Jesus that one is reconciled with God and receives the gift of the Holy Spirit.
There is no need for a disciple of Jesus to be baptized again - for it is normative for a disciple of Jesus to have heard the gospel in it’s entirety and believed in it. Having done so, a Christian’s baptism is the entry way into a new life in Christ in which one is filled with the Spirit of God and receives spiritual gifts.
As John Stott notes in his commentary “The Message of Acts”:
The Message of Acts a. Paul and John the Baptist’s Followers (19:1b–7)
The norm of Christian experience, then, is a cluster of four things: repentance, faith in Jesus, water baptism and the gift of the Spirit. Though the perceived order may vary a little, the four belong together and are universal in Christian initiation
If you believe that Christ is Lord and repented of your sins, your baptism is one of both water and fire.
The washing away of sin and the reception of the Holy Spirit - just as the disciples received the Spirit at Pentecost - described as fire coming down and resting upon them.
Now can someone be baptized and not receiving the Spirit. Of course, as Methodist like to say “Baptism is an outward sign of an inward change” - but if inwardly a person had not changed, if they have not truly repented or agreed to live under the Lordship of Jesus - if they do not truly believe in Jesus - then no amount of water in the world is going to make a difference in their lives. This is an act of faith.
And the Lord himself will sort that out one day.
But for those who do believe, the gift of the Holy Spirit is in you. The Holy Spirit has caused you to be united with Jesus in your spirit and united with the Body of Christ, the Church, throughout the world. You are One in Christ and One in the Body - it is a beautiful and mysterious union.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
“we were ALL baptized”
All believers have received the baptism of the Spirit, not just a special few. As stated in Eph 4:5
one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
United with Christ and with all your brothers and sisters of the faith, you can apply those precious words to yourself that we heard God speak earlier:
“You are my Son, You are my Daughter, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
You have received the Holy Spirit - you must exercise your faith in order to strengthen the spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit had imparted to you - but do not neglect or question your standing. You are a child of God if you have repented and believed.
If you have not - there is no better time than the present. Do not put off today what the Lord has laid upon you. If you sense a strong conviction that you need to repent and declare your faith in Christ - I invite you to do so right now.
And if you already know that you are a member of God’s family, but you simply want to recommit yourself to the Lord and thank him for his great mercy - I invite you to do so right now.
The altar is open. We are going to sing our closing song early - I want to give opportunity for anyone so lead to come forward. Come to the altar - kneel if able - and invite God in. If you want me to pray with you - raise your hand.
Let us sing.